How two boys died just like Gabriel Fernandez in SAME town – as one was ‘whipped & had hot sauce rubbed on face’

Hana Carter

11 Mar 2020, 20:06

SKIN scorched by cigarettes, genitals shot at with a BB gun and forced to eat cat poo - the tragic story of eight-year-old Gabriel Fernandez's death at the hands of his evil mother and her boyfriend has left Netflix viewers horrified.

But despite social workers and authorities being slammed for seemingly failing to protect the youngster, two other little boys have since died under eerily similar circumstances.

12

Anthony Avalos died from his injuries in hospital a short time after being rushed inCredit: Facebook / Maria Barron

12

Noah Cuatro tragically died last year in similar circumstancesCredit: The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office

Anthony Avalos, 10, and Noah Cuatro, four, both featured at the end of the final episode of The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez.

They both lived in LA too and tragically died after allegedly being tortured and beaten by their own parents.

Anthony lived just 15 minutes from Gabriel in Antelope Valley in Los Angeles and died in 2018.

His mother and her boyfriend have been charged with first-degree murder.

12

Gabriel Fernandez was tortured and killed by his mother and her boyfriendCredit: Netflix

He suffered a fatal bleed on the brain after mum Heather Barron, 28, and her boyfriend Kareem Ernesto Leiva, 32, allegedly dangled him from a height and repeatedly dropped him on his head.

But horrifyingly, it's just one of the alleged torture methods his mother and her partner are accused of inflicting on him before his death.

Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Hatami previously said: “At one point Anthony could not walk, was unconscious lying on his bedroom floor for hours, was not provided medical attention, and could not eat on his own.”

Similar to Gabriel, Anthony was covered in bruises and burns when he arrived at UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital.

The little boy, who was also allegedly forced to kneel on uncooked grains of rice as punishment, died in hospital a short time after being admitted, on June 21, 2018.

'Homophobia attacks'

The deputy director of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), Brandon Nichols, previously said that Anthony had said he "liked boys" before he died - but didn't offer any detail on who he told and when, the LA Times reports.

12

Anthony Avalos appeared to have suffered horrendous abuse before his deathCredit: Netflix

It has subsequently been claimed that homophobia may have been a factor in Anthony's death - in the same way as it was for Gabriel.

Gabriel's parents Pearl Fernandez and her boyfriend Isauro Aguirre are said to have subjected the defenceless boy to the vile attacks because they thought he was gay.

Commenting on the apparent similarities between Gabriel and Anthony's cases, former senator in California, Ricardo Lara, told the Netflix series: "It's the homophobia that you don't see.

"That doesn't play out on TV, that doesn't play out on the street, that is alive and well in your own home."

Let down by the system?

Like Gabriel, Anthony had been under the supervision of the DCFS sporadically over a three to four-year period.

He was being watched between 2013 and 2016 and throughout that period at least 13 calls were reportedly made by concerned teachers, police, relatives and counsellors to the child abuse hotline.

12

Anthony featured at the end of the Gabriel Fernandez documentary amid outrage over their deathsCredit: Netflix

12

Anthony is said to have suffered in pain, despite the DCFS visiting the homeCredit: Netflix

His aunt, Karla Avalos, previously told NBC News: "I'm mad, because there was multiple reports done... What is wrong with the system?"

Meanwhile the LA Times reports that his other aunt, Crystal Diuguid, even claimed to her therapist that Anthony's mum was beating him and locking him in a room with no bathroom or access to food.

Horrified, by what she had heard, the therapist called the child abuse hotline.

But despite these countless interventions, Anthony was allegedly continually tortured and eventually killed by his mum and her partner, prosecutors claim.

They intend to seek the death penalty if they are convicted.

12

Protesters took to the streets after Anthony Avalos' deathCredit: Netflix

Both Barron and Leiva have pleaded not guilty, and Anthony's siblings have been removed from the home.

The grand jury transcripts in the Avalos case were unsealed in December after The Times petitioned in court to obtain the records.

Second boy suffered similar fate

The second little boy, Noah Cuatro, died in hospital in July last year, one day after his parents called emergency services from their home in Palmdale, LA, to claim they'd found him drowned in their apartment complex pool.

However, authorities quickly treated the death as suspicious after medical staff spotted injuries on the little boy that were inconsistent with drowning.

His parents, Jose Maria Cuatro Jr., 28 and Elaine Juarez, 26, are now accused of torturing him for a period of four months leading up to this death.

Prosecutors also claim there were signs he was sexually assaulted the same day he was found motionless in the pool.

The pair were charged last month with one count of murder and torture, while Cuatro also faces an additional charge of assault on a child causing death and one count of sexual penetration of a child under the age of 10.

12

Noah Cuatro was just four years old when he diedCredit: Telemundo

Juarez also faces one count of child abuse under circumstances likely to cause death.

According to the LA Times, Noah spent his few years of life between foster care and the custody of his parents and great-grandmother.

Like Gabriel and Anthony, he too had been visited by the DCFS multiple times - with a case worker even going to a judge in May 2019 to claim his life was at imminent risk.

LET DOWN

a tough job

While the judge issued a court order to remove him, the DCFS reportedly never executed the order.

Noah is said to have died two weeks after the DCFS updated the court in June and asked for a 30-day continuance to investigate further.

Garrett Therolf, a former Los Angeles Times reporter and series producer, ultimately claimed in the documentary that more than 150 children in the LA County with at least some DCFS involvement in their lives have died of abuse and neglect since Gabriel's 2013 death.

Gabriel Fernandez gave Mother’s Day card to Pearl days before she and partner tortured him to death